Houston-based super PAC targets incumbents in both parties

By Gary Martin

Published 6:29 pm, Sunday, February 26, 2012

WASHINGTON - A Houston-based super PAC is targeting a dozen Democratic and Republican incumbents to reshape the political landscape in five states, including Texas, where critics say an election law loophole is being used by a wealthy family to buy a seat in Congress.

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A Houston spokesman for the Campaign for Primary Accountability, Curtis Ellis, said GOP members in Illinois, Alabama and Pennsylvania, are also in the crosshairs.

The Super PAC has raised $1.8 million to aid challengers in contested primaries where incumbents hold an advantage because of seniority and backing from special interests and Washington lobbyists.

Ellis said the PAC is helping strong challengers against incumbents by leveling the playing field and dilute the power of special interests.

"It's not about party, it's about process," Ellis said. "We want the people of Congress to fear Main Street, not K Street.

"The insiders, the lobbyists, give the incumbents the advantage. We want to equalize that," he said.

A tool for the wealthy?

But Texas Democrats said the PAC is being used as a tool for wealthy conservative donors to influence the upcoming primary election.

Reyes said wealthy El Paso businessmen who support his Democratic rival, Robert "Beto" O'Rourke, are trying to get more financial leverage by giving the federal maximum donation to his opponent and funneling unlimited money into the race via the Super PAC.

Five donors to the Campaign for Primary Accountability are from El Paso, including a group that gave $18,750 and is tied to O'Rourke's father-in-law, real estate developer Bill Sanders.

Reyes said Sanders "is using the Super PAC to help influence the outcome of this election while circumventing loopholes in campaign finance law to buy Mr. O'Rourke a seat in Congress."

O'Rourke did not return a call seeking comment.

Rep. Charlie Gonzalez, D-San Antonio, who has endorsed Reyes, called the Campaign for Primary Accountability a shell group funded by mega-rich Republican donors seeking broader electoral influence over the process.

Gonzalez said the motive of the PAC is to "go back to the same failed policies that led to the economic crisis in the first place."

Linbeck biggest donor

Super PACs arose after the U.S. Supreme Court, in the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision, found that the federal government could not prohibit unions or corporations from making independent expenditures for political purposes.

Super PACs can raise and receive unlimited amounts from donors, but are not allowed to coordinate directly with candidates or political parties.

The largest donor to the Campaign for Primary Accountability, Linbeck, gave $775,000. He is a staunch advocate for tax reform and smaller government.

"We are not funding parties and we are not funding incumbents," Ellis said. "We are using the power of the system the way it has been adjudicated at the Supreme Court level."

In Dallas, the Super PAC is working to unseat Johnson, who was first elected in 1992 and came under ethics scrutiny in 2010 for awarding Congressional Black Caucus scholarships to relatives.